Antigua beckoned. In the discussions and planning about what we do with the boat over the coming summer, one of the options is to leave her in the Caribbean for the hurricane season (gulp!) somewhere comparatively safe,  returning later in the autumn for a second bite at the islands here. To feel happy about the prospect, we need to see the possible yards where she might lie, and Antigua is one place that our insurance company felt comfortable about. We therefore thought it useful to have a look sooner rather than later, in order to rule the prospect in or out. Positioning ourselves for the c 50 nm trip in order to arrive in daylight (the charts say that entry at night is unwise) made sense.

Thurs 8/3/12 - Petit Canal – 16:22.5N 61:32.1W

It did not seem a sensible plan to negotiate our way out of the bay at Fajou island early in the morning, so we decided to do the difficult stuff on Thursday, which would leave us with a more straightforward exit early on Friday. Petit Canal was not far as the crow flies, but through the reefs it took us a good couple of hours. It lies on the west side of the eastern island of Guadeloupe, and used to be the shipping dock for the cane produce from the local plantation.

As it is throughout the bay, the navigation into the anchorage needed care, but there was buoyage, so a careful but direct path was fine. We were the only boat there, though a few pedalloes and kayaks came by to have a good look. The former had pairs of enthusiastic youngsters competing against each other, and they were using large beach towels as sails!  It looked good fun, but we could not help thinking of how they were going to feel when it came to paddling back against the wind and waves….   

Vulcan’s Revenge

We had planned to see a volcano more than once already in the islands, but had been stymied by the weather since there was no visibility due to the low lying cloud. Indeed, we had had it in mind to do when we were in the Canaries, but ran out of time. It seemed that we must have offended the gods by our faint-heartedness, since they decided to show us a bit of what it must be like to be around when they are grumpy!

As we ate in the cockpit, Ali noticed that there appeared to be a fire over on the other island. Across the bay, there was a huge smoke plume that stretched upwards and to the north. The island was shrouded in cloud, so it was not easy to see what was happening at first, but it became clear that there was a very large fire. What was burning was unknown, and we speculated that they may clear the cane fields or scrub this way, but whatever it was had gone out of control. As night fell, we could see the glow of the heat source reflected in the smoke plume and the clouds above.

It was at least ten miles away, across a huge span of water, and downwind of us. We went to bed thinking nothing of it, apart from concern about people and homes. Overnight, the wind died down, and it became quite still: great for a good sleep! When we awoke early to make the passage to Antigua, however, we found that the whole boat was covered in black and grey ash flakes. Wherever a hatch had been left open, they had infiltrated their way silently below deck. Standing on them, or trying to swat them off the canvas work, they disintegrated but left a nasty black smudge. It was a bit of a conundrum whether to stick or twist.

We brushed the cockpit clean and set off for Antigua, hoping that a bit of wind would get rid of it – it did not. After a bit of experimentation, we discovered that the ash did sluice off the deck with salt water (it cost us a bucket overboard to find this out, and a MOB recovery procedure to get it back!), so the deck wash pump was called into action and much of the stuff was washed over the side. This meant that putting the sails up did not risk them becoming horribly black, so after an hour of grunt work, we deployed full canvas and had a brilliant sail to Antigua.

Fri 9/3/12 - Falmouth Harbour, Antigua – 17:1.0N 61:45.4W

Our original plan had been to enter English Harbour, which is to the east of Falmouth Harbour. As we passed the entrance, though, it looked very congested. Falmouth is much bigger, so we eased the course and slipped in to anchor amongst the majestic and huge yachts that pepper the bay: makes us look tiny, but who can afford the crew….they were scrubbing the decks and polishing the bright work as we eased our way in between them to drop the anchor. Maybe they had also had experienced the ash downpour last night, but it was going to take them a lot longer to clean up!

We will clear customs and immigration in the morning, then have a look around the historic Nelson’s Dockyard, from whence he launched a thousand campaigns….

Watergaw